Lamplight

"Yes, I am coming quickly". Amen. Come Lord Jesus

Revelation 22:20

Nearly the last verse in the Bible quotes a promise from Jesus, "Yes, I am coming quickly." That was two thousand years ago, so we must wonder if he broke that promise or if his understanding of "quickly" is different than our own. I think the latter is true because the passage of time is a relative thing. For a child waiting on Christmas morning the few hours he or she must wait until Mom or Dad get up can seem like an eternity. But, when Grandma and Grandpa reminisce about Christmas’ past when their children were young it seems to them like they flew by in an instant. Though time is constant, our perception of it is not.

There is a lot of waiting in Christmas, and in fact there is a lot of anticipation in the Christian faith. We don’t receive all that God has to give all at once. The Bible says, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." Growth is gradual and is filled with peaks and valleys. We look forward to those Christmas Eve moments when "all is calm and all is bright", but we must also struggle through those times when there seems precious little "joy in your world."

That is when we most fervently pray, "Come, Lord Jesus, Come." This final prayer in the Bible probably refers to Jesus’ Second Coming, to his return to our world, but it is also the same prayer anyone offers who needs Jesus in their life right now. Whether the Christmas season bodes joy or sorrow born from loss, the power of this prayer remains the same. A favorite Christmas Carol echoes our prayer:

O Holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend on us, we pray;

Cast out our sin and enter in, Be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels, The great glad tidings tell.

"O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel."

That’s where the "Merry" in Christmas really comes from, so to each a joyful and Christ-filled Christmas.